Finding the Truth
by josiesbar
Summary: Karen Page hires Jessica Jones to help her find the truth about her past.
1. Chapter 1

_Notes: This takes place after The Defenders and The Punisher. The chapters will alternate points of view between Karen and Jessica._

"Welcome to Trish Talk. Today, we are going to talk about journalism, specifically, newspaper journalism. Some say that newspaper is dying, and others say it's more important than ever. Today's guest is Karen Page, a reporter for the Bulletin. Welcome, Karen."

"Thank you for having me, Trish."

"So, Karen, what do you say to people who claim that newspaper is dying?"

"Well, I would say that newspapers, including the Bulletin, are still doing some of the best, and most important, investigative journalism out there. Newspapers are able to dig into a story and really get to the truth in a way that television often can't."

This was Karen's second time on the radio, and she was enjoying it, though she wasn't sure if she would want to do it as a career. After all, she loved being a reporter for the Bulletin, and it was great to get the chance to talk about it on the air with Trish. It was also nice to do a radio show where she wasn't being threatened by a terrorist.

It would have been hard to picture herself doing this a couple of years ago. Of course, she had loved her time at Nelson and Murdock, particularly working with Matt and Foggy, but she had always had a passion for finding the truth. At least, that had been the case ever since the time she had been so desperate to find the truth when she was younger. She had done everything she could to find out what really happened to her brother, but she had failed. As she was talking to Trish after the show, something occurred to her.

"Hey, Trish, I was wondering if I could ask you something," Karen said. "So, there was something in my past that I was never able to find out the whole truth about. I ended doing something that could be used against me, and it's harder to defend myself if I don't know exactly what happened. So I was wondering..."

"You were wondering if Jessica might be able to help?"

"That transparent, huh? Yeah, I was wondering if she would consider investigating something that happened years ago. I'm sorry that I can't really tell you what the case would be about."

"That's okay. You don't have to tell me what it is. You only have to tell Jessica. Anyway, my opinion—and I'm not biased at all, of course—is that Jessica is the best private eye in the city. I can't say for sure if she would take your case, but I think she probably would."

"Thank you, Trish, and thank you for having me on your program," Karen said.

"You're very welcome," Trish said." I've been thinking about having you on here ever since we met at the police station, so I'm happy we were able to work it out. It's nice to have some shows that are a little more serious than the lifestyle shows we have usually had. I hope to have you back on here sometime."

Trish mentioning the police station brought Karen back to months ago, when she was standing there with Foggy, realizing that Matt wasn't going to come through the door. Karen tried to push the thoughts out of her mind. She didn't have time to think about that right now.

"I would love that," Karen said. "Just let me know."

As Karen headed out of the radio station, she decided that it was time to find out the truth about what happened to her brother, especially with the possibility of Fisk finding out about her past being more of a danger than ever. Still, before deciding for sure whether to hire Jessica Jones, there was one other opinion she wanted to hear.

She sent a text to Foggy. "Are you free for lunch?"

A few minutes later, he texted back, "Sure, but just for a quick lunch."

She met Foggy at a diner not too far from his office.

"So, how are you doing?" Karen asked after they both got sandwiches.

"Good," Foggy said. "Busy. How about you? You haven't been shot at anymore, have you?"

Karen and Foggy hadn't talked as much as they used to since Matt's death, but he did give her a call after he saw what happened to Karen during her ill-fated interview with the senator. They were at least chatting more often lately.

"No, thankfully," Karen said. "I've covered shootings and explosions, but I haven't been in any more."

"That's good," Foggy said. "I've been reading all of your stories. You're doing a good job at the Bulletin. I also heard your interview on Trish Talk today. Are you thinking about going into radio?"

Karen smiled. "Thank you. Being on the radio was fun, but I think I'll stick with newspaper. How are things going with Marci?"

Foggy smiled. "Good. Really good, actually."

"So it's pretty serious?"

"Yeah, getting there. Was there something in particular you wanted to talk about, Karen? I wish we could talk longer, but I have a meeting with a client in a half hour."

One of the things Karen missed about working together was having plenty of time to talk. Now whenever they talked, they seemed to be in a hurry.

"Yeah, I wanted to ask you what you thought about Jessica Jones. I know that you've worked with her at your firm. I was thinking about hiring her to look into something."

Foggy raised an eyebrow. "Really? Well, she's certainly a good private eye, when she's sober, at least. She can be pretty difficult to work with, but that's mostly because I've had the deal with the trouble she gets into. But a lot of her clients say she's worth it. What is it you want her to look into?"

Karen wasn't really ready to talk about this yet with Foggy. "It's just a mystery from several years ago. I'll tell you about it if she finds anything."

Foggy nodded. "Well, you've got me curious, but unfortunately, I also have to get going," he said as he stood up. "Considering I'm cutting this short, I can cover lunch."

"Oh, thank you Foggy," Karen said as she stood up.

Foggy walked over to the cash register and paid the bill. Then he walked back over and gave Karen a hug.

"We should do a night at Josie's sometime soon. I'm sure she misses us."

Karen smiled. "Definitely."

As Karen walked out of the diner, she decided to head straight over to Jessica Jones' office. Might as well see if she was willing to take her case. Time to make one more effort to find the truth.


	2. Chapter 2

_Notes: This chapter is pretty short, and it is the first time I have written in Jessica's point of view, so hopefully it turns out okay. Thank you for reading!_

Jessica looked through the photographs she had just taken. Hopefully her client wouldn't take her husband's infidelity as badly as her previous one had. Why did people want her to catch their cheating spouses in the act if they weren't going to accept what she found? Of course, sometimes what they really wanted was proof that they were wrong, that their husband or wife had been faithful to them all along and there was a perfectly reasonable explanation for all the late nights at work and extra business trips. Unfortunately, it was rare that they were wrong. As long as they paid her, it wasn't her problem, except when they decided to come after the messenger.

At least she hadn't had to break the door last time. She had replaced the "Alias Investigations" sign enough. It would be nice to keep it there for awhile.

She was just putting the photos into an envelope when Malcolm barged into the apartment.

"Could you try knocking?"

Malcolm just shrugged and walked over behind her. "What are you working on?"

"Just the usual, some jackass cheating on his wife."

"Well, at least you're getting a lot of work."

"I know, but it's been awhile since I had anything interesting."

"Didn't the last guy take a swing at you? That's pretty interesting."

"I meant, interesting to investigate."

"Anything for me to do?"

Jessica stared at him. "Does it look like I have anything for you to do? Besides, I thought you had a big test to study for."

Malcolm was back to school, working on his social work degree. Jessica had been glad he was able to get his life back together after being Kilgraved. She was still working on that.

Malcolm shrugged. "I think I've got enough studying in for the night."

"Well, you might as well get some more studying in, because I don't have anything that I need help with right now."

"Well, just let me know if you need anything," Malcolm said.

"Will do."

As Malcolm walked out, Jessica looked at the other two cases sitting on her desk. More of the same. She realized that she should probably be grateful there wasn't anything related to The Hand or Kilgrave. As far as she could tell, they were both gone.

She hated thinking about everything that had happened at Midland Circle and those crazy ninjas or whatever they were.

"And people call me a freak," Jessica muttered as she took a sip of her whiskey. "At least I'm not a zombie."

She was just grateful those zombies couldn't control her. Between The Hand and Kilgrave, she had just about had it with crazy crap. At least they both seemed to be gone.

Not without a sacrifice though. She could still see that building crashing down, knowing that Matt was still down there.

She pushed the thoughts out of her mind as she took another sip of her whiskey. She had cases to focus on.

Jessica was starting to look at her next case's Facebook profile when there was a knock on the door.

Probably yet another person wanting her to take photos of a cheating partner. It would be nice to get a different kind of case for once.

Jessica walked up to the door and opened it to find someone she hadn't expected. How crazy to see Karen Page after she had just been thinking about Midland Circle. The last time she had seen her, she had been crying with her friend, the lawyer who worked for Hogarth. Thinking about it brought back the feelings of guilt, even if there wasn't much more she could have done.

"Hi, Jessica Jones? My name is…"

"I know who you are," Jessica said. "The question is, what is a reporter for the Bulletin doing here? I don't do interviews."

"I'm not here to interview you. I was actually hoping to hire you."

Jessica raised an eyebrow. Well, she was looking for something different. Maybe today was her lucky day.


	3. Chapter 3

_Notes: Thank you for reading!_

Karen couldn't believe she was really doing this. She was finally hiring a private investigator to find out the truth about what had happened to her brother. It was something she had thought about ever since her own investigation years ago had led to a dead end.

Of course, it wasn't just any private eye. It was Jessica Jones. If anybody could find out the truth, it was her.

And really, she didn't have much choice now. As much as she didn't want to admit it, there was a real chance that Fisk would be getting out of prison, and he might dig just like Ben did and find out about her past. Unlike Ben, though, he would use it against her.

Karen still felt a pang of guilt when she thought about Ben. No matter what his wife had said, she felt responsible for his death. She figured the best way to honor him was to continue his pursuit of the truth. And that included the truth about her family.

And now she was here. A part of her was scared of what Jessica would find, but she had to do this.

Jessica pointed Karen toward her desk.

"So, what did you want me to look into? Is someone cheating on you?"

Karen stared at her. "What? No, this has to do with my family."

"Sorry," Jessica said. "Cheaters make up a lot of my cases."

"Oh, yeah, I could see that." Karen's stomach was in knots. She knew everything she told Jessica would be confidential, but this would still be the first time she talked so openly about her past.

Jessica gestured toward a chair. "Take a seat. What can I do for you, Ms. Page?"

Karen took a deep breath and handed Jessica the envelope with the articles about her past. No reason to say more than she had to when the articles did that for her.

"These articles explain some of it," Karen said. "The thing is, right now I'm concerned about the possibility of Fisk getting out. If he does, he's going to want revenge. He might have already done some digging and found this."

Jessica read through the articles. "You're afraid that he's going to put your past out there for everybody to see. I can see why you're concerned. This could definitely damage your credibility."

"Yeah, it might not have mattered as much when I was a secretary, but now that I'm working in a more public job where people need to trust that what I say is the truth, Fisk could cause some real damage if he finds this out."

"So what is it that you want me to look for?" Jessica asked.

"The thing is, before my brother's...accident...or at least what they called an accident, he said something to me that's always haunted me. He asked me if I had thought Dad was lying to us about what he really did. I said no, but that was a lie. Deep down, I knew there was something wrong.

Dad said he was a scientist at a government lab, but we never saw where he worked. Kevin said that he found something and that our father wasn't who he said he was, but I didn't want to hear it. The next day, Kevin was dead."

Karen was having trouble holding back her tears now. She had never really talked about this before, and here she was, telling all of this to someone who was basically a stranger. But a stranger who could help get answers. Or at least, she hoped so.

"So you want to find out what really happened to your brother," Jessica said.

Karen nodded.

"And you spent some time looking into it on your own?"

"Yeah, a few years after Kevin's death, I tried to find out what my dad might have been up to. I managed to get into my dad's old lab, but everything there was gone. No papers, no lab equipment. There were a couple of areas that I couldn't get into, though. And nobody in the area seemed to know anything about it."

"Interesting."

"Would you be willing to take my case?"

Jessica nodded. "Yeah, I'll draw up a contract. I'm curious. Why did you decide to come to me?"

"Well, I met your friend Trish at the police station while you were all fighting the Hand. She said you were a good friend. When I was on Trish's radio show today, I realized that it made sense to hire you. Plus...Matt trusted you, so I figure I can too. "

Jessica looked down at her papers for a few moments before finally looking back at Karen.

"Look...I'm sorry about happened to Matt," Jessica said.

Karen nodded, her throat too full to speak. She really didn't want to start crying in Jessica Jones' office. Even though Matt had died months ago, it sometimes felt like it had just happened yesterday. And in some ways, despite all this time, it still didn't feel real.

Jessica drew up the contract, and Karen signed it. She couldn't go back in time and save Matt, Ben, or her brother, but at least she could find out the truth.


	4. Chapter 4

Well, Jessica had to admit this case wasn't the usual cheating spouses. There was, of course, a chance that what had happened to Karen Page's brother was really an accident. However, even the newspaper had called it mysterious. Yet it was all swept under the rug. Jessica could only hope this wouldn't turn out to be The Hand again. She had had enough of those damn ninjas.

Jessica couldn't find much at all on Karen's parents, who had disappeared several years ago. What had her father been up to? She found some things about her mother, but none of it was very interesting. Just stuff on her involvement in her church from years ago.

She looked up the lab Karen had said her father worked at. There was very little information on it, which was strange. What had been going on at that lab?

Her Internet searching wasn't getting her very far. That meant only one thing. She would have to go to Vermont. Considering she didn't drive, it would probably be easiest to get Karen to drive her. Besides, she already knew the area.

She called Karen. She had to wait a few moments before she picked up.

"This is Karen Page."

"Hi, this is Jessica Jones. Do you have a minute?"

"Sure, just a sec, I need to finish up something," Karen said. Jessica waited a few minutes and was about to hang up when Karen got back on the line. "Sorry about that. I was just finishing up a story about an explosion earlier today, and my editor wanted it right away. Did you find something?"

"No, I can't find out much from here," Jessica said. "I'm going to need to go to Vermont. Or, rather, we are, because I don't drive."

"Oh, okay. Did you have a particular day in mind? I'll need to get some time off."

"No, I just have a couple of other cases to finish up, but then I should be free for a road trip."

"Okay, I'll let you know when I can go. Any idea how long it might take?"

"Nope."

Jessica knew that wasn't very helpful, but she really had no clue how this would go. Taking a road trip to some small New England town for a case was new territory for her.

As soon as Jessica hung up, her phone rang. Trish. She picked it up.

"Hey, Jess. Do you want to do lunch today?"

"Sure."

Jessica met Trish at a new restaurant she wanted to try. Well, her second choice. Jessica shot down the first one. Italian food. Reminded her too much of Kilgrave.

"So, do you have any interesting cases?" Trish asked.

"Actually, yeah," Jessica said. "I'm helping a client find out the truth about what happened to her brother. A client recommended by you, actually."

"Karen Page?"

"Yeah. And apparently you said something about me being a good friend. I don't know about that."

Trish smiled. "You are a good friend, Jess."

"Depends what you mean by good friend, I guess."

"You're there when it really matters. That's the important thing."

Jessica nodded. She wasn't good at the whole sharing feelings thing. Best to change the subject.

"So I'm going to have to go to some small town in Vermont to investigate this thing."

"Vermont? Is she driving?"

"Obviously."

"One of these days you'll feel comfortable getting your drivers license," Trish said.

"Hmmm."

Trish talked for a bit about a particularly entertaining guest before bringing the conversation back to Jessica.

"So, how long do you think you'll be gone?" Trish asked.

"Not sure. I need to wrap up a couple of other cases first. Just typical cheaters."

"Oh, I almost forgot to ask you, have you looked anymore into IGH?" Trish asked.

Jessica wasn't sure that Trish had really almost forgotten to ask that. More like waiting until the end of the conversation to throw that particularly personal topic at Jessica.

"I did a bit, but I just ran into dead ends," Jessica said.

"I've never known you to give up because of a few dead ends," Trish said.

Jessica shrugged. The truth was, as much as she liked digging for the truth, looking for the truth about herself felt a little too close to home.

"Well, I have other cases I need to focus on now. Anyway, I better get going."

When Jessica got back to her apartment, she tried to put IGH out of her mind and instead dug through everything she needed for the two other cases. Then she decided to take a short nap before heading out. It was going to be a long night.

Jessica slept for a bit, but a nightmare woke her up again. Despite Kilgrave being dead, his face and his voice still haunted her dreams, though it was getting a bit better, or at least that was what she told herself.

Jessica poured herself a glass of whiskey and sat and drank for a few minutes before heading out.

A couple of hours later, Jessica was sitting on a fire escape, waiting to get the money shot. She didn't find this thing as challenging as she did when she first became a private eye. She was actually hoping that Karen Page's case turned out to be a bit more interesting.

She got her camera out, waiting for the right shot. So much private eye work was just sitting around, waiting, and tonight she really wasn't in the mood for it.

"Hurry up and get to it already," Jessica muttered. "I have other work to do."

Finally, the clothes were coming off, and Jessica got her photos.

When she got back to her apartment, she looked thorough the photos. She sent a text to her client letting her know she had gotten the photos of her cheating husband. She didn't expect a text back for awhile. After all, it was 3 in the morning. For her other case, she was more likely to catch them in the act during the day.

Jessica had another glass of whiskey and crawled into bed.


	5. Chapter 5

Karen was a bit reluctant to ask for time off on such short notice. She had been on thin ice with Ellison ever since he found out that she hadn't told him about Frank. She didn't feel like she had a choice, though. She couldn't betray Frank. She was just glad that he seemed to be doing well with the veterans group.

She was also wary of going back to Vermont. She hadn't been back to Fagan Corners in years, and she had no urge to see those people again. Of course, they probably had no urge to see her either, after what she did. She wasn't exactly welcome there.

Still, she knew going back to Vermont was the only way to find the truth. If she couldn't prove that she had a reason for shooting her father's coworker and beloved church deacon, Fisk might put it out there in the world that Karen was just as crazy as everyone in her hometown thought she was. Goodbye, credibility.

Karen knocked on Ellison's door.

"What?" Ellison barked.

"Ellison, do you have a minute?" Karen asked.

Ellison looked at his watch. "I suppose. Make it fast, though. I have a meeting in a half-hour."

Karen cleared her throat. "I was wondering if it would be okay if I took a couple of days off. I hired a private investigator to look into what happened to my brother, and she needs me to go with her to Vermont."

"Who did you hire?"

"Jessica Jones."

Ellison nodded. "Good. I hope you get your answers."

"Really?" Karen said. She didn't mean to sound so shocked, but she thought it would take a bit more convincing, especially since they were a bit short staffed.

"Of course. You're one of my top reporters. I need you on top of your game. If you need to find out what happened to your brother to do that, then you should do it."

Karen smiled. "Thanks, Ellison. I'm also a little concerned that Fisk might use what I did against me."

"Well, if he does, we'll deal with it," Ellison said.

She appreciated that he said "we" instead of "you." It was nice to have Ellison's support.

She texted Jessica that she could leave the next day. Then she got back to work on her stories. She had a lot to get done before they left for Vermont.

As Karen and Jessica headed to Vermont the next day, Karen found herself consumed in her own thoughts as she drove by familiar landmarks. She figured Jessica had been lost in her own thoughts as well since she hadn't spoken much other than a few comments about how boring it looked out in the country.

Karen had mixed feelings about being back in Vermont. On the one hand, she had avoided coming back here for a reason. There were so many painful memories. On the other hand, there was a part of her that had missed her hometown, particularly the beautiful area surrounding it. She had fond memories of hiking through the woods with her brother.

She and Jessica stopped by the site of the accident first. Karen crossed her arms tightly across her chest as Jessica searched the area. She desperately wanted to leave. All she could see was her brother's dead body being pulled from that car.

"There wouldn't be anything here after all these years, would there?" Karen asked.

Karen shivered even though it wasn't that cold.

"You never know," Jessica said. "It's worth checking out."

Karen nodded, hoping Jessica would be done soon. She knew she should probably look around herself, but she had felt like she had done so much of that years ago, and she had found nothing.

"Yeah, nothing here," Jessica said several minutes later. "Let's head to the lab."

Karen still remembered the conversation she had overheard just days after her brother's death. Carl had not only been a coworker of her father's and a deacon at their church, he had been considered a family friend. He had always chatted with Karen and Kevin when he came by. Sometimes they even played cards together.

Karen had been walking by her father's home office when she had heard her brother's name. She had stopped and listened at the door.

"Look, Paxton, you know we had to do it," Carl said. "We had no choice. Kevin just knew too much, and he was threatening to go public with it."

Karen's breath had caught it in her throat as she realized what she had heard. The newspaper had reported that the accident had been suspicious. Her brother had always been such a careful driver. Now she knew the truth. He had been murdered.

Karen hadn't been planning to shoot Carl when she had taken her father's gun. She had only wanted to confront him, make him tell her the truth. She had shot him in self-defense. Or at least, that was what she told herself. Sometimes she wondered, much as she did with Wesley, if deep down she had wanted revenge.

Carl had lied over and over to her, claiming that she was just grieving and imagining things. What happened next was a blur. One moment Carl was moving quickly toward her, and the next, she was pulling the trigger. When the police came, Karen was still standing there in shock, the gun in her hand.

She had tried to tell everybody that Carl had murdered her brother and tried to attack her, but she just ended up being sentenced to a psychiatric hospital, where they gave her drugs and told her it was all in her head.

Carl had survived, but he had been in the hospital for weeks, and then, along with her father and mother, he had just disappeared.

After Karen was released from the psychiatric hospital, she was sent to live with her grandmother. Although her grandmother had been kind to her, she seemed to believe that it was all in Karen's head, too.

By the time she had been able to search her father's lab, it was empty.

But there were two rooms she couldn't get into. And Karen and Jessica were standing in front of one of them right now.


	6. Chapter 6

Jessica hoped there would be something useful behind this metal door.

Karen tried to open it. "Still locked. And they didn't even give me a lock I could pick. Isn't it strange that they have this locked room when everything else has been cleared out?"

"Yeah, it is," Jessica said.

Jessica forced the door open easily.

"Wow," Karen said.

They walked into the large room, shining their flashlights around the lab equipment.

Karen sneezed. The furniture and equipment in the room were dusty.

"Clearly nobody has been in here for quite awhile," Jessica said.

"Do you think whoever ran this place just never got around to clearing out these rooms?" Karen asked.

"Maybe," Jessica said. "Or maybe all that's left is useless junk that they didn't feel like taking with them. There's nothing helpful here."

"Yeah, I still don't get why they would lock these two rooms and not the others, though."

Jessica shrugged. "I don't know. I'll take some pictures just in case. Maybe there's something we're missing."

After Jessica finished taking pictures, they moved onto the second locked room.

"Time to see what's behind door number 2," Jessica said.

"Hopefully there's something useful in this room," Karen said.

They walked around the room with their flashlights, and it didn't take Jessica long to spot something that looked like writing on one of the pieces of lab equipment.

She walked over to get a closer look and wiped away the dust covering it. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw the label: IGH.

"What is it? Did you find something?" Karen walked over. "IGH? What does that stand for?"

"I don't know," Jessica said. "But they might be the ones who did this to me."

"Gave you your abilities? How do you know know that? You were never here, were you?"

"You ask a lot of questions."

"Sorry, automatic reporter habit. Still, that's so crazy."

"Yeah, it is. I've never been here. I just woke up in the hospital after the car accident, and I was a freak. Trish's mom gave her the file from the hospital. An organization called IGH paid for everything."

"Wait...do you think my father might have had something to do with what was done to you?"

"I don't know, but it looks like he at least worked for them. Let's look around and see if we can find anything else."

They shined their flashlights all over the room, checking every corner for hints as to what was done at this lab. They didn't find anything else with labels, and neither of them knew much about lab equipment.

Jessica took pictures of everything in the room. They walked around the rest of the lab but didn't find anything else.

"Is there anyplace else we should check?" Karen asked.

"What about your house?"

"I checked all the way through it when I got the chance," Karen said. "It was completely empty. Now another family lives there."

"We should probably drive by it, though," Jessica said. "If there's no one there, we can just take a quick look around."

Karen nodded, and they went back into town. They slowly drove by the house Karen grew up in. The two-story house had a big yard, with kids playing in it and a few adults standing around talking. It looked like they might be having a cookout.

"Well, they look happy," Karen said.

"Lots of people look happy," Jessica said. "Doesn't mean they are. Did you want to talk to anyone?"

"Nope."

Jessica nodded. "We might as well get back to New York then. I can keep looking into IGH there."

Karen nodded as they got back in the car. "I'll see if the Bulletin has any old articles on them. You know, it's just so crazy. IGH, whoever they are, might have killed my brother. And they gave you your abilities."

"Yeah," Jessica said. "Pretty crazy."

She didn't normally believe in fate. Frankly, she thought the whole idea of destiny or whatever was ridiculous. Yet here she was, finding her first big lead on IGH in Vermont of all places. It looked like she wasn't going to be able to avoid finding the truth about her past after all.

She called Trish.

"Hey," Jessica said. "So, apparently IGH had a lab in Vermont. It looks like Karen's dad worked there."

"Oh my God. Seriously?"

"Yep. Found a piece of lab equipment with the label 'IGH.'"

"Maybe I should look through my mother's files and see if she has anything else on them," Trish said.

"Hold off on that until I get back," Jessica said. She didn't want Trish spending too much time with her mother alone. "We'll go together."

Jessica and Karen were both quiet the rest of the way back to New York. Jessica figured that Karen was thinking about the organization that may have been responsible for her brother's death, maybe wondering if she really wanted the whole truth. Jessica never would have expected to end up in the same boat by taking this case. It looked like they were both about to find out the truth about their pasts. The big question was, what were they going to do when they found it?


	7. Chapter 7

_Notes: This is the final chapter. Thank you for reading!_

"Ellison, do you know anything about an organization called IGH?" Karen asked. "I can't find anything on our website."

Ellison frowned. "Never heard of it. What does it stand for?"

"No idea," Karen said, "but it looks like my father may have worked for them."

"Interesting," Ellison said. "What did you find in Vermont?"

Karen told Ellison about their trip to the lab and what they found. She also told him about the file Trish's mother had given her on Jessica.

"So, the obvious place to start would be articles on the accident that killed Jessica's parents, right?"

"Makes sense to me," Ellison said. "I'll see if I can think of anything that might be related to them."

Karen searched through the archives, looking for anything on people with abilities and children in accidents. She wondered if IGH might have had something to do with the accident that blinded Matt. After all, he certainly had had some interesting abilities. She started looking up articles on that accident, but there was no mention of IGH. She even tried calling the orphanage where Matt had grown up, but they said they weren't able to disclose that information.

Finally, after hours of digging, she managed to find one reference to IGH in an article about scientific advancements. It was vague and included very little information on IGH, but at least it included the name of a spokesperson. It was a start.

She was about to continue hunting when she received a text from Foggy.

"Do you want to meet at Josie's tonight?"

She texted back "sure," and they agreed to meet at 9. She imagined Foggy was curious about how the case was going.

Karen set her phone down so that she could continue looking through newspapers. Almost an hour went by before she realized it, and she had to hurry to make it to Trish's on time. Karen, Jessica, and Trish were going to go over everything they had found. Unfortunately, for Karen, that wasn't much. She hoped that Jessica and Trish had had better luck.

Karen was impressed with Trish's apartment building. Karen lived in a nicer place than she used to, but it wasn't even close to as nice as Trish's place.

Karen waved at the camera when she got up to Trish's door. She had quite the security system, too.

"You're definitely ready for any intruders," Karen said as Trish let her in and led her over to the kitchen.

Trish had made tacos, and Jessica was standing by the counter munching on chips and salsa.

"Yeah, I've had a few," Trish said. "Under Kilgrave's control. At least we can say now that Kilgrave is definitely gone."

"I wish he'd be gone from my head," Jessica mumbled.

"I can't imagine what that's like, having someone controlling your mind," Karen said.

"Thankfully, now you won't have to," Trish said.

Karen pulled out the few newspaper articles she had found. "So, I have to say I didn't find very much, just a few articles with mentions of IGH. But I did find the name of a spokesperson, at least, so that's something. Did you two have better luck?"

"Actually, we did," Trish said. "Well, we have several files we can dig through anyway. Luckily, my mom keeps everything."

"She really does," Jessica said. "One of her only good traits. Or at least, it's a good trait in this case. She normally keeps stuff so that she can blackmail people."

"Well, she has been helpful with this," Trish said.

"Sure, but you know she's expecting something in return," Jessica said.

Karen felt like she was in the middle of a private family discussion. She didn't know much about Trish's mother, but from what she had heard about parents of child stars, she wasn't surprised to hear they might have a difficult relationship.

"Well, right now our focus is on IGH," Trish said. "I thought we could look through these after dinner."

"Sounds good," Karen said. "I'm meeting Foggy for drinks later, but I have a couple of hours."

"It shouldn't take too long with the three of us," Trish said.

A couple of hours later, they at least had a few names to look into.

"I'll work on seeing what I can find on these people," Jessica said.

"I'll see if I can find anything on them in the Bulletin archives," Karen said.

Karen thanked Trish for dinner and headed out to Josie's to meet Foggy. She hadn't been to Josie's in months. It felt so strange to be back there, and it brought back a lot of memories of her Nelson and Murdock days.

Foggy was already sitting at a table when Karen walked in.

"Hey Karen," Foggy said as Karen sat down. "I already took the liberty of ordering a pitcher of beer."

"Aw, it's been so long since I had Josie's beer," Karen said as she poured herself a glass.

"I know. Didn't you miss it?"

Karen took a sip. The beer hadn't changed at all. "Not really. But I do miss the company."

Foggy smiled. "Me too. We'll need to do this more often."

"Yes we will," Karen said.

As they drank their beer, Foggy told Karen about a few of the cases he had worked on.

"So, how is it going with Jessica Jones?" Foggy asked.

"Well, we're making progress, at least," Karen said.

Karen told home about their trip to Vermont and what they had found.

"Hopefully we'll find something on my father soon," Karen said.

"Just be careful, Karen," Foggy said.

"You don't need to worry about me, Foggy."

"It's hard not to," Foggy said. "I've already lost one friend. I don't want to lose another."

Karen hugged him. "You won't."

Although Karen had to get back to working on other stories, she still spent her spare time looking into the names they had found. She found a couple of leads but nothing substantial. After a couple of weeks, Jessica found what they had been looking for, evidence that her father worked at IGH.

Karen, Jessica, and Trish met at Trish's apartment to discuss what they found.

Karen looked over the documents that Jessica had dug up. Her father was listed as a scientist on two documents, and Carl was listed as a manager.

"You know what?" Karen said. "I think we have enough for a story here."

"You think so?" Trish said.

Karen nodded. "I do. I'll have to talk to Ellison about it in the morning."

"Well, getting this in the paper will be a start anyway," Jessica said.

"Yes it will," Karen said. "Hopefully it will lead to these people paying for the things they've done."

"And hopefully I will find out why they did this to me," Jessica said.

The next day, Karen went over everything they had with Ellison. He agreed to publish the story after they had verified some of the details.

A few days later, Karen was looking at her story on the front page as she headed over to Trish's radio show. Karen and Jessica were going to discuss what they had found with Trish on the air.

"Are you guys ready to do this?" Trish asked as they put on their headsets.

"Yes, I am," Karen said.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Jessica said.

As Trish introduced them, Karen thought about her brother. She didn't know if her parents were alive or if she would ever see them again. Nothing she did would ever bring her brother back. Still, she hoped that if her brother was looking down on her, he was proud of her for finding the truth.


End file.
